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In late July Hyatt expressed interest in NH hotels not realizing apparently that Thailand’s Minor International had nearly completed acquisition of the Spanish chain. Days later Hyatt would hold its earnings call and quickly got out word of a deal with Small Luxury Hotels of the World with details to follow late in the year.
That wouldn’t be an acquisition. Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a collection of independent properties, and it’s more of a booking relationship than a hotel chain. And Hyatt’s deal is something similar to what they have with MGM’s M life Rewards — let’s share customers, offering points-earning and redemption.
With 500 hotels in 80 countries Small Luxury Hotels of the World held the potential to significantly grow the World of Hyatt footprint.
Hyatt has launched the partnership. At this point only 54 hotels are participating though Hyatt says “we expect for more SLH properties to join the program in the coming months.”
- 12 hotels in Greece, 13 in Italy, 11 in the UK, and 3 in Spain.
- In total 49 of the 54 participating hotels are in Europe.
- Of the rest one is in China and four are in Malaysia
Credit: On the Rocks, Santorini
Points-Earning and Benefits
Hyatt members booking through direct Hyatt channels will earn their regular 5 points per dollar spent plus applicable elite bonus. This applies to room revenue. Members also earn elite night credit for these stays.
All members booking through Hyatt will receive the following benefits, without respect to Hyatt elite status (there is no other Hyatt elite recognition).
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Daily Complimentary Continental Breakfast
- Room Upgrade (one category at check-in if available)
- Early check-in (noon, based upon availability at check-in)
- Late check-out (2:00pm, based upon availability at check-in)
These benefits are similar to what SLH offers their ‘Inspired’ program members who have had 1-5 stays.
SLH Invited Program Benefits
The critical point here though is that only bookings made through Hyatt channels are eligible for Hyatt points and elite night credit. Hyatt’s best rate guarantee doesn’t apply, and SLH’s own best rate guarantee doesn’t apply.
Booking independent properties direct may yield lower rates than going through a central channel, and in this case you’ll want to even check pricing that SLH.com is offering versus what Hyatt may be offering. There’s no promise Hyatt rates qualifying for points and status credit will be the best rates.
In addition bookings made through Hyatt with a World of Hyatt number attached do not earn credit in SLH’s Invited program and Invited elite members should not receive that program’s separate recognition. This differs from Hyatt’s relationship with MGM where it’s possible to earn credit in both the World of Hyatt and M life Rewards program at the same time.
Redemption
In a worldwide exclusive I broke news that Hyatt would be acquiring Two Roads Hospitality, including Destination Hotels; Joie de Vivre; Alila; and Thompson Hotels giving Hyatt 85 more properties which skew higher end. That deal, combined with the SLH partnership, give Hyatt members access to a lot more nice hotels at which to spend their points.
Participating SLH properties have been added to Hyatt’s redemption tiers. And as they leaked a month ago, Hyatt is introducing a new category 8 which will price at 40,000 points per night, a big increase compared to the previous top category 7 which runs 30,000 points per night.
Some SLH properties will be category 8. So far no pre-existing Hyatt properties are assigned to category 8 — however I assume we’ll eventually see category creep into that higher pricing tier even if Hyatt isn’t specifically planning it today.
What This Partnership Means for Members
More options are better for members. More great hotels to spend points at is great for members. And more places to earn elite status is, too, though as easy as Hyatt is now making earning status for U.S. members with the World Of Hyatt Credit Card I’m not even sure how necessary that is.
It’s disappointing that Hyatt has so far only been able to get about 10% of Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties to sign on. And it’s even more disappointing that the deal is structured so that members will only earn points and stay credit on rates available through Hyatt. It will be crucial to comparison shop price when booking paid stays at these hotels. That’s a major reason I see this largely as a redemption play.
It’s unfortunate that SLH redemptions coincide with the introduction of a new more expensive top award tier, since inertia alone will ultimately make some Hyatt redemptions more expensive. Though of course that likely would have happened at some point anyway.
These Properties are Participating at Launch
| Hotel de Orangerie | Bruges | Belgium |
| The Sukhothai Shanghai | Shanghai | China |
| Columbia Beach Resort | Limassol | Cyprus |
| Hotel St. Petersbourg | Tallinn | Estonia |
| Hotel and Spa des Pecheurs | Corsica | France |
| Hotel Le Strato | Courchevel 1850 | France |
| Les Etangs de Corot | Versailles | France |
| Ketschauer Hof | Deidesheim | Germany |
| The Margi | Athens | Greece |
| Theoxenia Palace & House Suites | Athens | Greece |
| Elounda Gulf Villas and Suites | Crete | Greece |
| Liostasi Hotel & Suites | Ios | Greece |
| Sesa Boutique Hotel | Kanali | Greece |
| Archipelagos | Mykonos | Greece |
| Pietra e Mare Beach Hotel | Mykonos | Greece |
| Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites | Santorini | Greece |
| On the Rocks | Santorini | Greece |
| San Antonio | Santorini | Greece |
| Santorini Secret Suites & Spa | Santorini | Greece |
| The Excelsior | Thessaloniki | Greece |
| Relais San Lorenzo | Bergamo | Italy |
| Palazzo Vecchietti | Florence | Italy |
| Park Hotel ai Cappuccini | Gubbio | Italy |
| Magna Pars Suites Milano | Milan | Italy |
| Hotel de La Ville – Monza | Monza | Italy |
| Grand Hotel Parker’s | Naples | Italy |
| Hotel Lord Byron | Rome | Italy |
| Hotel Vilon | Rome | Italy |
| Margutta 19 | Rome | Italy |
| Villa Spalletti Trivelli Rome | Rome | Italy |
| Sikelia | Sicily | Italy |
| Ca’Sagredo Hotel | Venice | Italy |
| Centurion Palace | Venice | Italy |
| Palazzo Sant’Angelo sul Canal Grande | Venice | Italy |
| Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista | Verona | Italy |
| Gaya Island Resort | Borneo | Malaysia |
| Lanson Place Bukit Ceylon | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
| Pangkor Laut Resort | Pangkor Laut | Malaysia |
| The Edison George Town | Penang | Malaysia |
| Sant Francesc Hotel Singular | Mallorca | Spain |
| Nobu Hotel Marbella | Marbella | Spain |
| El Lodge Ski and Spa | Sierra Nevada | Spain |
| The View Lugano | Lugano | Switzerland |
| Nira Caledonia | Edinburgh | United Kingdom |
| Ashdown Park Hotel | Forest Row | United Kingdom |
| Tylney Hall Hotel and Gardens | Hook | United Kingdom |
| Dukes London | London | United Kingdom |
| Flemings Mayfair London | London | United Kingdom |
| St. James’s Hotel and Club | London | United Kingdom |
| The Capital Hotel & Apartments | London | United Kingdom |
| Luton Hoo Hotel Golf & Spa | Luton | United Kingdom |
| The Atlantic Hotel | St Brelade | United Kingdom |
| The Arden Hotel | Stratford-upon-Avon | United Kingdom |
| Alexander House Hotel & Utopia Spa | Turners Hill | United Kingdom |
Hmmmm. where are the Maldives ones?
Do stay benefits like continental breakfast apply to award bookings?
thanks
@ Gary — “Worldwide exclusive”? Really?
@Gene – I broke the news of this acquisition several days before ANYONE ELSE on this based on my own reporting.
@ Gary — Do direct bookings include Citi Prestige? I believe yes.
@Gene – you can only book THROUGH HYATT CHANNELS to earn Hyatt points and stay credit, a Citi Prestige booking at one of these hotels would not count.
“Worldwide exclusive”. LOL.
Guessing no additional benefits for Globalists? Do the benefits apply to both paid and award bookings?
And this explains the problem. As a Hyatt Explorist, I do not receive a free breakfast at a full service Hyatt (unless I can use one of my four lounge passes at one of the few Hyatts that has a lounge) but I will receive a free continental breakfast at SLH properties participating in the Hyatt program. Makes no sense to have a loyalty tier requiring 30+ nights without a free breakfast.
“It will be crucial to comparison shop price when booking paid stays at these hotels.” Likely a big understatement. I would guess one is paying dearly for that “free” breakfast and points/stay credit when booking these hotels on hyatt.com
Only 10% … hopefully we’ll see more soon. If it doesn’t rise significantly, then it will be of questionable worth for most.
One caveat that might be worthy of writing up — these are SMALL hotels. Without confirmable upgrades, the likelihood of seeing meaningful upgrades is small. They don’t have that many rooms, might be reluctant to give up sparse suites, and also are more likely to sell out. This also extends to issues where your room might have a problem and you need a swap. Small is small. Also, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys last minute airline mile redemptions, hotels like these aren’t likely to have last minute availability. Small is small.
So far, only a handful are even offering points redemptions when what looks to be basic rooms are available…of course I was looking in June